Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley is in Buenos Aires filming a Hollywood movie about the capture of Adolf Eichmann by Israeli agents.
Kingsley, a British actor, is starring in “Operation Finale,” which chronicles the notorious Nazi’s life as Ricardo Klement living in the Argentine capital after World War II and the Mossad operation to capture him. Chris Weitz, a producer and writer known for “Rogue One” in the “Star Wars” series, is the director. Filming will last one more month in greater Buenos Aires area.
A Mossad unit led by Peter Malkin captured Eichmann in May 1960; he was executed in Israel in 1962. Malkin will be played by the Guatemalan-American actor Oscar Isaac. Matthew Orton wrote the screenplay. Tony Award winner Michael Aronov will play another Mossad agent, Zvi Aharoni.
Kingsley, who won an Oscar for his 1982 portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi, has played “Moses” for TV (1995); Itzhak Stern in “Schindler’s List” (1993); Otto Frank for “Anne Frank” (2001); and Simon Wiesenthal in “Murderers Among Us” (1989).
“The Man Who Captured Eichmann,” a 1996 film starring Robert Duvall, was based on the book “Eichman In My Hands” written by Malkin with Harry Stein.
Argentina was a haven for Nazi war criminals after World War II, including Joseph Mengele and Erich Priebke. One month ago the country presented to Israel tens of thousands of documents from the World War II era, some of them related to Nazi war criminals.